KSO-Ghqs reacts, dismisses DESAM assertions
Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network
Imphal, June 18 2014:
The Kuki Students Organisation, General Headquarters (KSO-GHQ) countered Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur (DESAM's reference to the Kuki people as 'migrants'.
The KSO-GHQ today cautioned that the DESAM statement is a despicable statement which if it goes out of hand, can embroil the people in chaos and the land in a state of anarchy.
The historical account as propagated by DESAM does not hold any waters as it lacks rational explanation.
The claims they were made are a concocted story of the naivet� minds, the apex Kuki students' body said.
"Tagging us as migrants is preposterous.
There may be some Kuki villagers who have migratory tendency, yes, but they are not encroachers.
Migration amongst Kukis were confined to short distances only, which is well within their realm or sphere of influence.
Just as the Meiteis who had at one point of time settled in the vastness of Shan state, Kabaw (Kangmang Phaicham), and Cachar, the Kukis were likewise indigenous people who settled in the vast expanse of land that stretched across the length and breadth of countries, which includes the present northeastern region of India, north and western part of Myanmar, and the Chittagong hills of Bangladesh.
The present Manipur just happens to be their ancestral land where their settlements are highly concentrated today," the KSO-GHQ stated.
It then said that while labeling the Kukis as migrants by the DESAM, the latter knowingly elected to forget the Kukis' patriotism.
"Kukis are the only true defenders of this land we called Manipur including other parts in North East India.
The Anglo-Manipuri War just lasted days because of their internal strife.
On the other hand the Anglo-Kuki War (The Kuki Rebellion) lasted 3 years because of our love and resolve for freedom and because of our integrity.
The Kukis fought the British from 1917 up to 1919 to defend their land and freedom.
Although they were defeated, their territory was not annexed by the British.
Instead the lands remained with the Kuki chiefs after they accepted the surrender terms.
However these lands were given away during Manipur's merger with India.
Wherever land the Kukis claimed today are those lands that they shed their bloods for to protect it but signed away to India by others.
If not for their land why Kukis should fought a long and protracted war against colonialism and suffered immense hardships.
It should be noted that the Kuki Rebellion or Kuki Rising was one of the longest wars fought in this part of the world.
The Kukis had fought the British to uphold and defend their freedom for three long years.
The lands they defended with their lives rightfully belongs to them," the KSO-GHQ further said.
KSO-GHQ then advised DESAM to do their homework to know who forced the king to sign away the independence of Manipur and also the people who had resisted it.
In 1949, it was the Kuki chiefs and soldiers who came out to guard the king in a bid to prevent the signing of the 'merger agreement'.
More than 100 Kuki soldiers were stationed at the Palace to prevent the King's own subjects who were bent on coercing him to sign the merger agreement.
The Kuki chiefs had made an all-out effort to defend the independence of Manipur at the time of 'merger to India'.
This is awfully lamentable, the irony being that it was the valley people who forced their own king to sign over Manipur's independence to India, the apex Kuki students' body stated.
According to the KSO-GHQ, the Kukis had forsaken vast tract of ancestral lands in Tamenglong district and Ukhrul district in the aftermath of the ethnic clash in the interest of peace and mutual co-existence.
But today the Kukis do not physically claim these lands knowing the futility of it and its implication to peace and communal harmony.
Everybody should see some sense in this and learn to do the same, it added.
"What solution may intellectuals or historians bring when history is written by the victors or majority population, in this case the majority population of the valley," it wonders.
"You do not understand our history.
We do not need others to lecture our history.
Our history is our affairs now.
We can now trace our ancestry and history to time immemorial, just like everybody else.
The boundary that DESAM referred to is just one of the demarcations to divide or disintegrate the Kuki people into three political realms� India, Myanmar and Bangladesh," the KSO-GHQ also said.
According to the Kuki students' body, DESAM had alleged that Kukis encroached on reserved forests.
"Reserved Forests Act is not our doing," the KSO said.
According to the Kuki students' body, it is just the handiwork of governments to grab 'our lands' without the knowledge of 'our illiterate' chiefs.
The government doled out small tidbits to ignorant chiefs and created reserved forests, it added.
KSO then accused DESAM of trying to sow seed of dissent and enmity between Old Kukis and New Kukis.
It then said there is not a well defined or distinct line that separates Old and New Kukis.
Our tradition, culture, language are as similar as mirror image.
The terms 'Old Kuki' and 'New Kuki' are now irrelevant as the term 'Kuki' is the inclusive and the generally accepted term by all.
DESAM by bringing up such terms at this juncture is conniving and conspiring to divide and disintegrate the Kukis and thence to take advantages, KSO said.
"Is DESAM trying to portray Moreh as belonging to Madrasis?," the KSO asked, adding, " If they accept Madrasis as the first settlers of Moreh rather than the Kukis, then it is so.
In that case they should also bear in mind that the latest settlers of Moreh are our Meitei brothers from the valley.
And just because other ethnic groups had purchased plots of land and settled in a square Kilometre area does not make Moreh a cosmopolitan" .
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